Lisa McClain (00:00):
-- Republicans. Democrats have made the bed that they lie in and they need to own their decisions every single day. Just recently, President Biden has been pardoning sex offenders, decreasing domestic energy, and forgiving even more student loan debt as he leaves his post. We need, as Republicans, to fight against this record of corruption and bad policies. Dems need to own this insanity. This is their mess, but we will clean it up.
(00:39)
Fortunately, there is a better path forward. It's a very stark contrast, but the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that our agenda is about opportunity, freedom, prosperity, and putting America first, while their agenda is about control, dependence, and America last. We have an opportunity for a massive political realignment and we are excited about that. We have a unified Republican government that wants to put America first again. We also won on building diverse coalitions.
(01:22)
I'm committed to doubling down on these efforts as Conference Chairwoman. We ran on a political platform that is about being accountable to the people. The Democrats alienated the working class, while the Republicans proved we want to be the party of the bigger tent. We want more investments in America. We want energy independence again, not an increased reliance on foreign countries that hate us and hate what we stand for. We want to make our country safer.
(01:57)
Today the House is expected to vote on the Lake and Riley Act. For people like Congressman Addison McDowell, the southern border is very personal, very personal, and he's going to speak. Unfortunately, he is perfectly equipped to talk about illegal immigration and why this matters in every community, not just the border states.
(02:22)
I'll turn it now over to Congressman Addison McDowell for some remarks. Thank you.
Addison McDowell (02:31):
Good morning. Last week when we were sworn in and I took my oath and became a member of the 119th Congress, my entire family was here with me, everyone except for my little brother Luke. Luke wasn't here because he was killed by fentanyl that was almost certainly manufactured in China and smuggled across our southern border.
(02:52)
When I decided to run for Congress, I went and met with President Trump and I told him, sir, I'm ready to get off the sidelines and I'm ready to fight with your agenda to secure our border and protect our country. I'm ready to fight for families like mine who have had my mom and dad had to look a police officer in the eyes when he told them that their son was dead. Every day that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress refuse to act, more people will die.
(03:22)
That is why that was the number one issue for Americans across the country when we went to the ballot box. They looked at the President and the Vice President and they said, y'all are fired. I'm looking forward to voting for the Lake and Riley Act today because for families like hers and like mine, this is a needed step. To those of you that are watching, I lost my little brother. I'm in Congress so that you don't have to lose yours.
(03:49)
I'm excited to get to work. President Trump, we need you here. January 20th cannot come fast enough. Thank you.
Guy Reschenthaler (04:00):
Thanks, guys. Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump's historic victory was solidified, marking the dawn of a new Golden Age for America. The time is now to restore our strength, rebuild our prosperity, and reassert true leadership in our nation. With just 13 days until President Trump returns to the White House, our House majority is acting swiftly to advance important legislation that Joe Biden and the Democrats blatantly ignored, the Lake and Riley Act.
(04:34)
With Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer and the Party of Lawlessness out of the way, the radical left's mission to enable criminal illegal aliens. Criminal illegal aliens, yet people keep writing undocumented whatever. Criminal illegal aliens at the expense of law-abiding Americans, it's no longer going to be tolerated. The tragic and preventable murder of Lake and Riley serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of failed leadership, but thankfully, voters sent a clear message on November 5th.
(05:08)
The American people elected a Republican trifecta to put a stop to the failed Biden-Harris policies that rolled out the red carpet for illegal immigrants, criminal illegal immigrants, and put Americans in harm's way. And guess what? That's exactly what we're going to do. The Lake and Riley Act is a direct step toward ensuring that criminal illegal aliens are swiftly and permanently removed from our communities and our country.
(05:35)
This bill is more than just a piece of legislation. It's a return to common sense American values. Under President Trump's leadership, there will be a lot more where that came from as we restore the rule of law and put Americans first again. With that, I turn it over to our leader, Steve Scalise.
Steve Scalise (05:54):
Thank you, Whip. It was very exciting Friday to not only get sworn in, but to see all these new members of Congress as part of this new Republican majority, both House majority, Senate majority, with President Trump coming in just a couple of weeks. We have over 30 new Republicans that are a part of this majority and their enthusiasm is contagious. They came to do big things, and we have big things planned.
(06:24)
I'll talk about a couple of those things, but we started by doing something that maybe some of you were a little disappointed in. We actually only took one ballot to elect Mike Johnson as our speaker, and I think that showed you just how focused this new majority is on doing our work. We have a lot to do. We did not have time last week to go multiple rounds and try to have a lot of internal fights.
(06:50)
While we might have internal disagreements along the way, we are going to be focused on the people's business. We have a lot of work to do to fix the mess, as Lisa pointed out, that Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Democrats have left behind. Just look what Joe Biden did a couple of days ago, puts out another Executive Order to make it harder to produce American energy. Another kick to the gut of hard-working families.
(07:17)
Those people in the middle class, he talks about the middle class, he talks about hard-working people, and yet he passes policy after policy to kick them in the gut and raise costs on them. Those actions on energy, anti-American energy policies, will raise costs even higher on those families who can't afford it. The good news for those families is help is on the way.
(07:41)
We are starting the budget reconciliation process. We are already working with committee chairs. We've been doing this for months, but now we're doing it in a very direct way. We've worked with President Trump to make it clear that in February we're going to get our budget on the floor. The committees will be working by March to actually get the policies in place to not only secure the border, to get good energy policy in place, to reverse a lot of these radical regulations that are crushing families across America, but to just get Washington to have some common sense again as President Trump has talked about, and then to move that through the House by April, by Easter.
(08:23)
It's an ambitious agenda, but it's an agenda that all of us signed up for. We're starting today with the Lake and Riley Act, the bill we passed last Congress, but Chuck Schumer made it clear he was not going to allow through his far left radical Senate. Well now we have a new Senate, and John Thune wants to move that bill as early as this week. That is good news to people like Addison, real people like Addison who have real stories where Washington had left them behind and didn't care about their problems.
(08:59)
The good news for them is there's a new light in Washington. There's a new sign of hope in Washington where we're going to be addressing the problems that families are facing, and we're going to do it quickly. This is going to move at rapid speed because the problems America faces cannot wait. This Congress is open for business and it's ready to move fast. You're going to see that aggressive agenda led by our first ballot speaker, Mike Johnson.
Mike Johnson (09:31):
Well, thank you all and welcome to the 119th Congress. It has already gotten off to a swift start, and it has to. I'll tell you what, there's a real feeling on Capitol Hill right now in the midst of the snow and all the winter drama as well as across the country. It really does feel like a new day in America. It really does, and we are excited about it. The excitement is palpable. Our members are ready to get to work and we already are. We have hit the ground running as we promised everyone we would on that campaign trail because we have to fix everything, and it begins today.
(10:03)
On Friday, we passed our rules package, as you all know, and that included 12 policy measures that proved to the people that House Republicans are serious about this, delivering on our promises. You'll see instant measures right out of the gates here to secure the border, unleash American energy, protect American elections, and return to common sense, which will be a primary theme of the new year for all of us.
(10:26)
On Saturday and Sunday, we took all the House Republicans for workshops and lengthy retreats. We spent all day both of those days meeting and having important discussions about our policy agenda and what will happen over the next several months. You all heard me say over the last year we were developing, and using my football metaphors, we were developing a playbook. We have, and we have very well-designed plays, and now we're working out the sequence of those plays, working with the new head coach in that metaphor, which is President Trump and our colleagues and teammates in the Senate, the Senate Republicans.
(10:59)
We're excited about how all of that is rolling out. We trudged through the snow yesterday to certify the elections and that went off without a hitch. 38 minutes to certify the new President. That might be a record, I'm not sure, but it went off well. President Trump won the popular vote and he won all seven swing states, which we stood to applaud during that important procedure. The America First agenda will be on full display. That was the mandate we got in the election with President receiving 77 million popular votes and the House Republicans receiving almost 75 million, which I think is a record that we won the popular vote as well.
(11:37)
We know that that message has been heard here loud and clear. As promised, we're starting today with border security. If you polled the populace and the voters, they would tell you that that was the top of the list. We have a lot to do there to fix it. It's an absolute disaster because of what has happened over the last four years and the Laken Riley Act is a big part of that. You know her story. It was last February, 22-year-old student, reminds many of us of our own children out for a jog. A vicious killer tragically murders her.
(12:10)
That killer entered the country illegally with Joe Biden's open border and took the life of a beloved daughter and sister and friend. The only thing President Biden did after Laken's tragic death was apologize for calling her murderer an illegal. That's outrageous. We all know the real victim here is young Laken. There are real consequences to policy decisions. This one was deadly. It was reminiscent of the tragic story that Addison shared about his little brother. We all feel that acutely. This is a story that's repeated across the country to so many, many countless American families, and it must come to an end.
(12:49)
And it will. It will begin with legislation like the Laken Riley Act today. When we brought this bill forward last Congress, it's shockingly amazingly to me, 170 House Democrats voted against that legislation. We are going to detain and deport illegal aliens who commit burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, and certainly vicious and violent crimes. I can't believe anybody would be opposed to that. As Democrats struggle with their identity now as a party post-election, we'll find out if they're still clinging to that open border policy and that mantra, despite the American people roundly rejecting all that in November. We'll see this will be a telling vote.
(13:28)
Also this week, the House will vote to impose sanctions on ICC officials and put the ICC Prosecutor Kareem Khan back in his place. He does not have jurisdiction over Israel or the United States, and it is outrageous that they're issuing arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel's Defense Minister Golan. The ICC is actually equating Israel and Hamas, even as Hamas still holds Israelis and American hostages. It is just absurd. The House will not tolerate rogue actors who circumvent international law to attack Israel and threaten America. We won't do it.
(14:04)
This bill passed the House on a bipartisan basis last Congress, and after we vote on it again with Leader Thune in, now in leadership in the Senate, and Chuck Schumer out, I expect that'll be brought to the Senate for a vote. Finally, later today we'll have the chance to honor President Jimmy Carter, the late president as he lies in state here in the Rotunda. Special occasion, obviously. One of the rare opportunities that we have to honor a former president in this manner. I hope you all join us to remember President Carter and mourn with his family and with the nation.
(14:35)
With that, I'll take a few questions. Back row.
Speaker 6 (14:38):
Mr. Speaker, you talk about the unity of the conference, but there is some dissension over how to handle the debt ceiling that's been a priority for President Trump to deal with right away. How quickly do you want to address the debt ceiling and what fashion do you see a remedy here to that issue that the President wants to see done as soon as possible?
Mike Johnson (14:55):
Well, the intention is to handle the debt limit in reconciliation in the process. That way, as the Republican Party, the party in charge of both chambers, we then get to determine the details of that. If it runs through regular order and regular process, and as a standalone, or as part of the appropriations for example, then you have to have both parties negotiating. We feel like we're in better stead to do it ourselves.
(15:21)
There is a broad range of opinion on that in our own conference and we are working through that. We will be having very deliberate, lengthy white board sessions with all of our members. This is something I actually look forward to. I love this process of turning it out amongst our colleagues because people come to the table with great skill sets, life experiences, deep principled positions, and it's a really healthy thing to have that debate inside the tent and come to the solutions and the consensus together.
(15:50)
People feel like they have a sense of ownership in it when they do that. So, that's what will be devoting a lot of my time, leadership, team's time, our committee chair's time over the coming days and weeks to make sure that everybody is on the same page on that. The debt limit among all the issues is probably one of the most important. I want to emphasize this and I'm going to say this, every time the issue comes up, Republicans and this majority in the House and the Senate, our intention and our mission is to reduce the size and scope of government, to reduce spending in a meaningful way so that we can restore fiscal sanity and get our country back on the right track.
(16:26)
So raising the debt limit is a necessary step so that we don't give the appearance that we're going to default in some way on the nation's debt. That's important to the bond markets and the stability of the dollar and all the rest. That does not mean that we have any intention whatsoever, or will tolerate, spending up to the new debt limit. The idea is to do exactly the opposite. While that is almost a pro forma sort of step that must be taken, the commitment at the same time is to reduce spending, not to spend more.
(16:56)
That will be the thoughtful discussion we have behind the scenes. That number, the final formula for that, is yet to be determined, but it will be determined here in the coming days and I look forward to having that discussion.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
Mr. Speaker as part of that, are you open at all to cuts to entitlement programs specifically to Medicare?
Mike Johnson (17:12):
No. Look, the President has made very clear Social Security and Medicare have to be preserved. No one is coming in with the intention of cutting benefits in any way or anything, but we have to look at all spending and look at it very deliberately while maintaining those commitments. The Republican Party is not going to cut benefits. Okay. We've made that very clear over and over and over, and that's the commitment of the White House and the commitment of this Republican conference.
(17:37)
We do know, however, at the same time, there are many, many areas of fraud, waste, and abuse. The government is too large, the agencies are too many, there have too many divisions and employees and all the rest, and there'll be a very deliberate auditing of all of that in various aspects as we go through the process. The DOJ Initiative, the project, is going on simultaneously and we'll be dovetailing all that together.
(17:59)
Our intention is to, by the end of this Congress, to show the American people we brought the government back down to a measurable state, so to speak, right? That it works more efficiently and effectively for the people. The way you do that is to get back to the original intent, the primary roles of the federal government. That's been expanded too much. The government has expanded too much over the last years.
(18:23)
I'll take one more. Back row. Yes, ma'am?
Speaker 7 (18:24):
Thank you so much. I'm with the Atlanta Journal Constitution. When the Laken Riley Act was on the floor in the previous Congress, a lot of Democrats said they weren't voting for it because they supported the bipartisan bill that we know that President Trump opposed. What is your response to how or will you work with Democrats on something more comprehensive that could get bipartisan support?
Mike Johnson (18:48):
Yeah, the Laken Riley Act was Bipartisan. Leader Scalise is reminding me behind me, 37 Democrats did vote for that.
Speaker 7 (18:55):
Yes, but you noted that 100, or someone-
Mike Johnson (18:57):
170 voted against it.
Speaker 7 (18:58):
… previously noticed that most did not.
Mike Johnson (18:59):
I think they put politics ahead of principle, and we're going to find out where they stand on this now. Look, we have every intention of doing really important bipartisan work in the Congress. To be frank, I was heartened when Leader Jeffries, in his opening remarks before he introduced me to give my speaker's speech, that he noted some of this. He noted border and other things. We'll see. It can't be just empty rhetoric. It's got to be action, and we're going to give them the opportunity to take action with us.
(19:26)
Look, we welcome with open arms any Democrat who wants to help us solve these problems because the American people demand and deserve it. It's overdue. We'll be looking for that, and we'll see how it shakes out. Thank you all. Thank you. Happy New Year.